Belinda Escobosa is Director of Litigation and the Irell & Manella Chair in Public Interest Law at Public Counsel. She is a senior civil rights attorney with more than two decades of experience in impact litigation, organizational leadership, and public interest law. She leads complex litigation and legal advocacy to advance civil rights, racial justice, constitutional protections, and equitable systems change.
Prior to joining Public Counsel, Belinda held senior leadership roles at leading national civil rights organizations, including serving as National Senior Counsel at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), Interim Legal Director at the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), and Chief Strategy Officer at the Asian Law Caucus. Across these roles, she led high-impact litigation while shaping organizational direction and bridging litigation, policy, and movement strategy. She was frequently brought in as a strategic litigation advisor during critical periods and transitioned into senior leadership roles to guide organizational response, advance cross-movement advocacy, and drive impact on immigrants’ rights, employment discrimination, voting rights, and related constitutional issues.
Belinda previously spent more than a decade at the ACLU of Southern California, where she served in multiple leadership roles, including Director of the Orange County office and founding Director of the Inland Empire office. She developed regional litigation strategies and led innovative, multi-pronged advocacy initiatives, including the Dignity for All Project addressing homelessness in Southern California.
She is known for a principled, trauma-informed approach to advocacy and for addressing complex legal challenges affecting vulnerable communities, including unhoused individuals, immigrants, and communities disproportionately impacted by poverty and over-policing. In addition to litigation, her work includes policy advocacy, governance advising, and public education on civil rights and constitutional law.
Belinda has been recognized for her leadership and professional excellence, including honors for her work in immigrants’ rights and voting rights, and recognition as one of the Daily Journal’s Top Women Lawyers.
